February 6th was the 2016 YYZ Airport Watch Annual General Meeting held at the GTAA Airport Emergency Services Centre (AESC). Approximately 60 members attended, renewed their annual memberships, and enjoyed the presentations.

The meeting was relatively scaled down compared to previous AGMs for a number of reasons.  Several guest speakers had been planned, but unfortunately had to cancel due to other commitments.  Representation from our official partners at GTAA, Peel Regional Police and the International Airport Watch Association were unable to attend, but sent along their best regards. GTAA of course hosted the event at the AESC, provided Audio Visual equipment and also kindly covered the cost of our Tim Horton’s refreshments for the AGM.  Thanks GTAA!

In lieu of a guest speaker this year we looked within the group for presentations.  Firstly John Bertram did several presentations. The first was a video of the 2011 airside tour, the first specific Tour for the group since our initial Tour airside for the inaugural arrival of the Emirates Airbus A380 in June 2009.  John then went on to do an interesting promotional piece on the Canadian Aviation Historical Society, a worthy organization to which a good number of our members belong.  He is an active member and invites anyone interested to join. We can pass your name along to John or Sheldon Benner, the Toronto Chapter secretary if you want more information on CAHS. John closed with a photo essay on some of his journeys across Ontario in search of gate guards, or aircraft preserved and on public display.  These can be in a variety of location, in cities as memorials, adjacent to legions or civic buildings, and obviously on military bases.  Great presentations, thanks John!

Ken Mist, the YYZ Airport Watch webmaster did a very interesting presentation about the Commemorative Air Force’s Red Tail Mustang program.  The program revolves around the legendary Tuskegee Airmen of World War II.  This elite unit of all-black fighter pilots went from an underestimated token unit, to the most requested protectors of the American bomber force in the air war over Europe.  Ken has spent a couple of summers on the airshow circuit as a volunteer and spokesman for the program, travelling with the mobile display and the P-51 Red Tail Mustang.  The Tuskegee Mustang is one of the most sought after in the airshow business, and the educational benefit that the program presents is unprecedented in the industry.  Canadian warbird Pilot Bill Shepherd is one of the pilots and also has a lot of flying experience with the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association.  Bill has flown the Tuskegee Mustang for several airshow seasons now.  The Red Tail Mustang is a familiar sight on the Ontario airshow circuit, (appeared at CIAS 2014) and will undoubtedly return to Ontario skies soon.

GTAA has been very helpful with our member identification materials, and our latest effort will be to work with them and Peel Regional Police to equip our membership with Airport Watch safety vests to be worn whenever on patrol at YYZ (hopefully at minimal cost).  We will pass information along on this as thing transpire.

2015 was a difficult year for the group with illnesses and deaths in several board member’s families. Andy Cline lost his father after a long, good life in April. Several of the board members kindly flew to North Bay on short notice for the funeral which was greatly appreciated along with flowers from the group, as well as personal messages from some of you.  Andy spent a lot of time in North Bay with his elderly mother, almost every weekend up till recently.   Driving 4 hours each way has severely impacted his free time, and time available for Airport Watch.  Rob McNeil’s father has also been ill in the UK.

Derek Horsey has been our YYZ Airport Watch tours director for many years. He suddenly resigned his post in November when he was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer.   The outlook is  not good. The doctors said 3 months with no treatment, and perhaps 6 if he opted for chemo and radiation.  Derek is such a proud man that he refused treatment and wanted to maintain his dignity as long as possible.

Andy had a wonderful visit with Derek in hospital on January 28th.  “Obviously I was trepidacious about the visit, not sure what to say and such, but it was fine. Derek was very happy to see me and I felt privileged to be one of the few he allowed  to visit.  I joked that he didn’t look any more miserable than usual, and he howled with laughter!  That broke get ice and we chatted for well over an hour.  He explained the situation thoroughly. He was emotional at times, which seemed to upset him most of all. A true British gentleman daunted by not being able to keep a stiff upper lip!  He was lucid and funny and had a few emotional moments  We chatted about the group and spotting.  He is determined to finish his Heathrow logs!  I brought him a bunch of magazines which pleased him.  We created a plaque with a photo of Derek at YYZ spotting with his binoculars and the YYZAW logo with the thanks from the group and committee.  He was very moved by it and it is proudly displayed in his room. His daughter works in the hospital and her boss sometimes visits Derek , she just received a plaque from Lions Club, and Derek said he will be proud to show her his much superior plaque. He sends the group his best, but regrets that he wants no visitors please. Again we thank him for his significant efforts on behalf of the group.”

The YYZ Airport Watch committee has consequently undergone a few changes.  Robert MacNeil has taken over the tours chair from Derek, and hopes to get things back on track.  2015 unfortunately saw no group tours for numerous reasons (NavCan has cancelled all tower tours for non-pilots or ATC people, Our Fire Department contact Andy Armstrong has been off on medical leave).  Paul Thacker has kindly agreed to fill Rob’s shoes in  the Community Relations position.  After Andy’s request for assistance with some of his duties, several members kindly stepped forward and we will send news as things develop.  Joe Martelli kindly agreed to help get our spring cleanup of spotting areas (FedEx) started again, and we will send out an announcement about that shortly.

IAWA Update

Here is an update from the Jacques Brunelle at the  IAWA. Greetings from Ottawa:

I myself, am continuing on to support Airport Watch even though I recently retired from the RCMP after 30+ years of service.   BORDERPOL as you may recall, signed a Cooperative Agreement in November with IAWA to promote, expand and increase training for Airport Watch groups in North America. IAWA members have also accepted to be part of the BORDERPOL’s advisory board. BORDERPOL is global in reach and is a not-for-profit organization based in Ottawa, Canada. It’s aims include supporting law enforcement programmes at international ports of entry.

As to IAWA’s permanent board members; Al Cooper in Minneapolis, Nelson Plamondon and myself in Ottawa, have each been very occupied up on personal issues since Christmas but we are hoping to squeeze past these roadblocks in the coming weeks. Bad timing for IAWA but unavoidable. As well, Officer Joel Vargas continues on with several job functions in the Chicago-Bensenville area including coordinating ORD Airport Watch.

With BORDERPOL cooperation, we are forming a temporary IAWA Steering Committee to help guide our coming development of IAWA Airport Watch. Members will include security experts from major airports and international airlines who have already expressed an interest to assist at the recent BORDERPOL World Congress held in December in The Hague. At that World Congress, our written Cooperative Agreement between BORDERPOL and IAWA was formally announced to members from 43 countries.

For the coming months, we are postponing our usual July IAWA international conference as we are still putting together a sponsorship proposal via BORDERPOL so that training requirements are sponsored. Once that framework is set, we can plan for a properly supported international training conference which I am estimating could be in September. Local group training of course can carry on.

In cooperation with BORDERPOL, our new policing partners involved in Airport Watch / Plane Watch programs in the UK are also doing their national training conference for their own volunteer groups namely, Stansted, Heathrow and Gatwick airports with their own national expansion in mind. It’s early in planning but we are invited to attend. Last year’s UK conference was held at the RAF Museum.

We will announce further developments as they become available.

Regards,

Jacques Brunelle, IPMChair, International Airport Watch Association (IAWA)Ottawa internationalairportwatch.orgairportwatch@gmail.com

 

Our door prize raffle at the end of the AGM used our old membership cards for those who attended. Aviation World kindly donated some JustPlanes DVDs and YYZAW member Roman Sydor kindly donated two watches for the draw, all well received by the recipients.  The meeting was closed with a slide show by Andrew Cline of an aerial photo shoot over Pearson in a helicopter which took place in November.  The images provided unique views of YYZ and aircraft on the gates, taxiing, landing and taking off and air-to-air.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS

Members who could not make the meeting are required to renew ASAP.  As usual, please contact Andy or Fred at Aviation World Monday to Saturday (ONLY) from 10-00-18:00. We require your old membership card and $10.00 cash to renew.  Please call ahead to 416-674-5959 to make sure one of us will be here when you plan on coming in. NOTE: If we are NOT here, other AvWorld staff CANNOT help in YYZ Airport Watch matters.  Please note: As previously announced, YYZAW renewals will cost $10.00 until March 19 at which time renewal fee will be increased to $15.00.  Renewals after that time will cost $15.00  This will hopefully help to have renewals completed as soon as possible.

Thanks to Parr Yonemoto for the photo attached.

 

This Family Day long weekend, ride UP Express for free – Saturday, February 13th through Monday, February 15th.

UP Express is opening its doors to give families a chance to spend the weekend exploring all Toronto has to offer.

UP Express is a dedicated rail link that speeds from Union Station to Pearson Airport, with convenient stops near shopping and restaurants at Bloor and Weston. It’s a comfortable and reliable 25 minute ride, with trains leaving every 15 minutes, no matter what’s happening on the roads.

Travel Smarter. Take the Train. ­­­
UP is designed for travellers – even if your travel plans are local this Family Day weekend. Come and see what great service is all about on UP Express.

Free Ride Service Details

·         Saturday, February 13th – 5:30 AM until 1:00 AM

·         Sunday, February 14th – 5:30 AM until 1:00 AM

·         Monday, February 15th – 5:30 AM until 1:00 AM

 

Regular pricing:

Family One-way Includes up to 2 adults 18 years of age or over and up to 3 children under the age of 18	$55.00
Family Meeter and Greeter Return Families (up to 2 adults 18 years of age or over and up to 3 children under the age of 18) meeting travellers at the airport may purchase this return ticket. Trips must originate from Union, Bloor and Weston stations, with a fare expiration of 4 hours from the trip start.	$55.00
Family Long Layover Return Families (up to 2 adults 18 years of age or over and up to 3 children under the age of 18) with long flight layovers can purchase this return ticket. Valid from Pearson Station only with an expiration of 7 hours from trip start time.	$55.00

Children under 13 years old always ride free!

Greetings YYZ Airport Watch Membership.

It’s AGM time again, where did 2015 disappear to?  Happy New Year to all, and we hope everyone had a great year!

Please plan on attending the YYZ Airport Watch Annual General Meeting on Saturday February 6th at 10:00 (doors should be open early, so please feel free to show up as early as 9:30 to get signed in and membership renewed.  As usual the AGM will take place at the GTAA Airport Emergency Support Centre (AESC) at 2935 Convair Drive

Please remember to bring your old ID card, and $10.00 annual renewal fee (NOTE, if you have a friend who is a member that cannot attend, you may renew on their behalf by bringing $10.00 and their old card).  The meeting will be approximately 2 hours long, possibly with GTAA / PRP / IAWA officials speaking, as well as The YYZAW committee comments and reports. A few interesting presentations from members will also be carried out.

If you cannot attend the meeting, Membership may be renewed after the fact, instructions will be sent out shortly after the meeting.  NOTE: As a method to accumulate renewals as early as possible and to save Committee members from chasing people, we are planning on increasing renewal fee from $10.00 to $15.00 after March 1, so please renew at the AGM, or follow renewal instructions that will be sent out after the meeting. Again, you can have a friend do your renewal for you at the AGM if you are unable to attend, so give them your old ID card and $10.00 cash in advance.

Hours Logs

Also, please update your 2015 spotting log hours on the website before the end of the month so we can complete out year end statistics. If you are having problems submitting hours online to contact our web administrator Ken Mist at ken@kenmist.com to reset your account.  Please provide your full name and APWM number.

 

Regards, YYZ Airport Watch Committee

EXERCISE HOLLOW POiNT
Story and photos by Andrew H. Cline

A series of rapid fire gunshots rang out in Toronto Pearson International Airport’s Terminal 1 check in area, and passengers and airline staff dove for cover. A man with a hand gun who had been mingling with check in lines had shot off several clips in the midst of passengers in the queue, wounding or killing about 10 people. Peel Regional Police on patrol in the Terminal quickly responded and pursued the suspect, who ran deeper into the terminal building towards the security check in area. As police closed in on the suspect, he committed suicide by turned his gun on himself before he was apprehended. These were the opening moments of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority’s latest major annual emergency exercise on October 6 2015.

“The aim of the exercise is to provide a challenge to GTAA functional groups and external stakeholders to respond to an act of unlawful interference with civil aviation in accordance with existing plans, procedures and protocols. This is done in order to prepare individuals and agencies for a real world event, improve performances and responses, and to test plans and procedures in order to identify shortfalls.” according to the GTAA.

A year’s worth of planning went into the exercise, led by GTAA Exercise Director Carlos Geraldes and Coordinator Amanda Meehan, the architects for the exercise together with a planning committee of representatives from the various departments and agencies involved. Every major airport in Canada is federally mandated to hold a major emergency or security exercise each year. Magnitudes vary depending on the year, one year is a tabletop size, followed by the same scenario the following year as a full scale exercise. These exercises alternate annually between an emergency exercise such as a crash scenario and a security exercise such as a terrorist attack. The exercises are made as realistic as possible while still safely maintaining normal airport operations. The events often take place late at night for this reason, usually at an isolated area of the terminal or airfield to help prevent upsetting or interfering with passengers and airport staff not involved in the exercise. In this case screening was erected to obscure the exercise area from sight and ample signage and numerous PA announcements alerted passengers and airport staff alike in Terminal 1 that an exercise was under way throughout the duration of event. Due to time constraints, the exercise was limited to the response phase, and did not include the recovery phase.

About 100 volunteers gathered at the GTAA Fire & Emergency Services Training Institute (FESTI) and briefings commenced at 21:00. A number of volunteers were assigned special roles, and were segregated from the rest of the volunteers, arriving early to accommodate having casualty makeup applied to replicate wounded victims. A St. John Ambulance team provided very realistic casualty simulation makeup application (CASSIM) to those volunteers who were designated as gunshot victims. These volunteers were briefed on their scripted parts as victims, some of them were tasked with acting panicked and shocked, some screaming, and running around hysterically after the shooting. Most of the other volunteers were simply briefed to act as they normally would while waiting for a flight at the airport and asked to respond as they normally would to the scenario as it unfolded. This included the use of social media, which the GTAA media department monitors and briefs everyone ahead of time to stipulate clearly that it is only an exercise by using the social media hastag: #YYZEmergEx . “Exercise! Exercise! Exercise!” was heard on GTAA, company and emergency services radio calls at the beginning of each transmission in order to avoid confusion and reaction to a real incident instead of the simulation.

The volunteers as well as the observers and controllers were bussed from FESTI to Terminal 1 prior to the start of the exercise. They gathered in the international check in area of Terminal 1. Volunteers were asked to bring their own carry on bags, and additional empty luggage was provided by GTAA to augment the exercise. Personnel from Copa Airlines and Emirates simulated ‘European Airlines’ flight 002 to Brussels and ‘Bright Star Airways’ flight number BS001 to Dubai for the flights that the passengers were checking in for.

The exercise commenced with the shooting curb side of a Commissionaire when he challenged an assailant who then abandoned his vehicle and fled into into Terminal 1. He then mingled with passengers in the check in lines. The active shooter then unleashing his weapon on the unsuspecting passengers in the queue. Everyone in the crowd immediately dropped to the ground, or took refuge with the airline employees behind the check in counters. Peel Regional Police on terminal foot patrol quickly responded and pursued the active shooter, who killed himself before he could be apprehended. The Peel Regional Police tactical team arrived and methodically secured the area, establishing a perimeter around the scene. Police then started providing first aid to the most seriously injured, and reassuring victims that help was on the way, before fire and medical personnel arrived. The first Peel Regional paramedics commenced triage of victims as soon as they arrived, prioritizing urgency of treatment. Each injured victim had a triage tag filled out and attached to them, categorizing them for immediate or delayed treatment and transportation. Police and fire personnel helped with the triage by moving ambulatory patients and uninjured people to areas away from the seriously injured, this helped expedite the casualty evacuation. Immediate treatment was provided prior to being made ready for transport by ambulance, and loaded aboard by paramedic teams. Once aboard the ambulances, they were hooked up to monitors for the best simulation value possible. Ambulatory and uninjured passengers were kept in concentrated areas for processing and interrogation by officials in order to get as much information about the incident as possible.

Evaluators from GTAA, FESTI, Peel Regional Police other police, fire and paramedic agencies and airlines all oversaw the exercise, as did observers from numerous other airlines and organizations. The entire event was filmed by multiple cameras, still and video, for training purposes. A large debrief was held at FESTI after the exercise for the participants, controllers, evaluators and observers in order to give feedback on all aspects of the exercise from various perspectives. The resulting input became part of the full after action report. Volunteers were given a nice souvenir satchel with an EXERCISE HOLLOW POINT logo and an Emirates sports cushion as well as refreshments and snacks by GTAA after the event as thanks for their participation.

Six YYZ Airport Watch members volunteered for the event, each taking on different roles as passengers. They included Andrew Cline, John Griffith, Rob Jones, Ken Mist, Ron Stanley and Aleksandar Vlasevski. This was not an official Airport Watch event, but a general announcement goes out to group members to help fill the vital volunteer positions. Many members of the Toronto Pearson Welcome Team volunteer program also participated as passengers.

EXERCISE HOLLOW POINT was deemed a big success. Lessons learned are applied to help streamline inter-agency interaction and procedures in the event that a similar situation was to transpire for real. The participating agencies use the exercise as a tool to coordinate their responses to emergency situations of this nature. The numerous observers took away a lot of valuable information for their own organizations to maximize the learning benefits of this major exercise.

As of the YYZAW AGM held February 7th, most of the Airport Watch membership has been equipped with two new pieces of Identification Gear. Firstly, GTAA has kindly provided GTAA Logo Lanyards for all members at no charge. These are to be used with our identification cards in all occasions when spotting at Pearson. When not in use, please store them out of sight (not hanging from your mirror for example).

YYZ Airport Watch Vehicle Flags

As part of our 10th anniversary celebration in 2014, YYZ Airport Watch’s vehicle flag program is now well underway. The idea originated with the Montreal Airport Watch. We have acquired enough flags for the entire membership (one per vehicle), and they have been distributed to most members. The flags provide a much easier way of recognizing our personnel from a distance, thereby increasing our deterrent factor at Pearson. The program is endorsed by GTAA and Peel Regional Police (and hopefully will be sponsored by these agencies). As standard procedure, We will continue to use our existing dash banners, and door magnets in conjunction with the vehicle flags. The authorities prefer us to use the flags wherever and whenever possible, because they are much more visible from any direction than the magnets and dash banners, and help provide an very visible deterrent as such.

***PLEASE READ CAREFULLY***

Due to the nature of the plastic flag pole, they are susceptible to cold weather, and can tend to snap if bent when extremely cold. If you drive with them on your window, the window must be closed on the mount, or else they will blow off. If you have aftermarket tinted windows, please be cautious that the clamp mount doesn’t damage the tint material. NOTE: The flag mounts are inherently very tight, and can be difficult to fit onto the glass initially. They can be used on some vehicles with thin glass as-is, but may require adjustment, especially for North American vehicles, which have thicker glass. Please see the instructions below for adjustment of the mount. Instructions for adjusting flags for vehicle windows (or how to cook a flag!):

 

figure 1:Immerse flag mount in boiling or very hot water for about 30 seconds. (Please wear protective gloves, it is hot water!)

figure 2:Insert a metal device such as a chisel, scraper or flat-head screwdriver into the gap in order to widen it.

figure 3:Allow it to cool for several minutes, and remove the spreading device. Test fit on your vehicle window, and repeat if necessary in order to widen the gap. The mount should be tight on the window, but not too tight to install.

You may pick up your YYZ Airport Watch Flag and renew your membership at Aviation World from Andy or Fred most weekdays, and Saturdays. Please kindly call ahead to 416-674-5959 to make sure one of us is there to help you (no other AvWorld staff is able to do Airport Watch business!

Antonov Design Bureau AN-124 ADB2976 scheduled in at 10am local this Sunday March 8.  If you catch any pictures, submit them to the webmaster for possible inclusion.

UPDATE: A great turnout of members!  We were treated to  a clear cold morning and a shining Ruslan.

An interesting take on the allure of planespotting written by Andrew McMillen at Buzzfeed.

Take a look (new window) and then come back and let us  know what you think in the comments

From the YYZ website, the official map as of late last year.  Left click to view in a new window, right click to save on your computer.

AVOPSiteMap_December2014

Thank you Toronto Pearson for allowing us to share this graphic.